Data Storage Devices (DSDs) are often used to record data onto or to reproduce data from a storage media. One type of storage media includes a rotating magnetic disk where a magnetic head of the DSD can read and write data in tracks on a surface of the disk, such as in a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Another type of storage media can include a solid-state memory where cells are charged to store data.
Oftentimes an environmental condition of a DSD, such as vibration, mechanical shock, temperature, humidity, or air pressure, can cause problems when writing data to or reading data from a storage medium of a DSD. Such errors caused by environmental conditions can reduce the reliability and performance of the DSD. With respect to performance, a DSD may repeatedly attempt to perform a failed write command before aborting the write command. This type of error recovery may waste resources if an environmental condition causing the write error persists.
In addition, certain storage media may be particularly susceptible to errors caused by environmental conditions. For example, a disk using Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) may be more susceptible to errors caused by vibration, mechanical shock, or changes in temperature, humidity, or air pressure. SMR has been introduced as a way of increasing the amount of data that can be stored in a given area on a disk by overlapping tracks to increase the number of Tracks Per Inch (TPI). Although a higher number of TPI is ordinarily possible with SMR, the higher track density can lead to a greater vulnerability to errors caused by environmental conditions.
In addition, the number of write retries allowed in one location is often limited in SMR DSDs due to the greater effect of Adjacent Track Interference (ATI) and Wide Area Track Erasure (WATER) on SMR media. Write retries are therefore often made in different locations on an SMR media, which can be costly in terms of space on the media. Multiple write retries spread across the media can also increase the need for maintenance operations such as garbage collection to reclaim the portions of the media used for the failed write retries.